The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for tracking and locating persons, sending messages, and locating assets.
Vehicle recovery companies include LoJack, ZoomBack, MicroTRAKgps, Mobile Gardian, Trimtrack, OnStar and ATX. The LoJack™ system, for example, provides discrete/covert ability and uses radio frequency communication. Dealers primarily install the LoJack system. Radio technology is inexpensive and the system is relatively easy to install. A tracking PC is used by law enforcement (federal, state, local) who use vehicles, helicopters, or aircraft to recover vehicles, which provides consumer confidence and acceptance. However, the LoJack system has no intranet tracking feature. The MicroTRAKgps system, for example, uses wireless GPS technology and satellite communication to provide for real time tracking. The MicroTRAKgps system is used by original equipment manufacturers including Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo.
The LoJack asset recovery system is designed to assist in asset recovery. The LoJack system is most often employed with vehicles in which a tracking device is installed. The LoJack system uses cellular communication. The OnStar™ system in an in-vehicle system that may be used for asset recovery, emergency notifications and operator assistance. However, the LoJack and OnStar systems do not permit communication of messages to other individuals such as would provide for sharing of trip-related information, or transmission of messages indicating alerts (such as on/off or open/close alerts), and do not provide for worldwide coverage.
Facts relating to vehicle recovery are that US yearly vehicle thefts are greater than 1 million, which is 1 out of every 190 cars, one about every 26 seconds. The North American theft rate is higher than the rest of the world. Vehicle theft is highest in urban cities. The western US has the highest theft rates in North America (6 out of the top 10 locations). Carjacking is less than 3% of vehicle thefts in North America. A majority of people polled in North America want a vehicle theft recovery devices. By 2010, it is expected that automakers will offer vehicle recovery packages via their dealers.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,099,770 and 7,337,061 disclose devices and applications that use cellular communication to provide location information. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,099,770 and 7,337,061 each disclose, as evidenced by their titles, a “Location monitoring and transmitting device, method, and computer program product using a simplex satellite transmitter.” The respective Abstracts indicate that the patents disclose a “device, method, and computer program product for monitoring and transmitting a location and a local status of a remote device using a simplex satellite transmitter. The monitoring device includes a position location unit, a simplex satellite transmitter, a power source, and a controller. The position location unit is configured to determine a location of the remote device. The simplex satellite transmitter is configured to transmit the location to one or more satellites in low earth orbit. The controller includes a power management unit configured to control a power state of the position location unit and the simplex satellite transmitter, and to periodically enable and disable power from the power source to the position location unit and the simplex satellite transmitter.”
Thus, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,099,770 and 7,337,061 each disclose an single-unit monitoring device which is programmed to determine and transmit its location via a low earth orbiting satellite. There is no disclosure in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,099,770 or 7,337,061 regarding the use of a separate hand-held user-controlled device that communicates with an asset tracking device, which in turn communicates messages from either the hand-held user-controlled device or the asset tracking device via satellite a low earth orbiting satellite.
The assignee of the present invention has previously developed a “SPOT™” tracker that is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/215,462, filed Jun. 27, 2008. The SPOT tracker is a hand-held user-carried device that embodies a satellite transmitter, amplifier and antenna, and that is carried by a user to allow emergency message communication via satellite to emergency personnel or other remotely-located persons. However, the SPOT tracker cannot be readily used to track assets, such as vehicles or ship containers, for example, unless the user is collocated with the assets. The SPOT tracker is embodied in a single hand-held user controlled device that communicates via a low earth orbiting satellite. The SPOT tracker does not communicate via a secondary device that transmits messages via a low earth orbiting satellite.
It would therefore be desirable to have apparatus and methods that implement personal and asset tracking, and that track and locate persons, send messages, and locate assets. It would also be desirable to have apparatus and methods that permit message communication to non-emergency individuals, sharing of trip-related information, or transmission of alert messages.